Creeper
by Dr. Kaitie Holmes
Summary: Castiel owns a small store, and begins to find unsettling notes. When two men break in to investigate, things get interesting. Destiel, probably some implied Sabriel. Teen just in case.
1. Chapter 1

Castiel found the first letter as he was closing the store Friday night. It was as he was folding an unraveled blanket. The slip of paper fluttered from the cloth to the carpeted ground. After placing the blanket back on the shelf, Castiel picked it up and carefully unfolded it. He shouldn't be doing this. It wasn't his, and it could be private... But his curiosity got the better of him, as per usual. When he read the first line, his eyes widened in shock.

 _Dear Castiel,_

 _I hope this note finds you. I know you're the one who cleans up after hours. Your brothers are too self-absorbed and lazy to do so._

 _I just want to let you know that I admire you, Castiel. Your body, your mannerisms, your smile. Today, when you walked by me, I nearly touched you. I want to. And soon, very soon, we will be together. This I promise you._

The letter was unsigned.

Castiel shivered, glancing about the empty store. Some creeper had been right by him, had nearly touched him, and he hadn't even noticed. And how did this person know about his brothers? They rarely visited the family shop, and they never broadcast that they were related. Well, Gabriel did, but not the others.

Suddenly, Castiel crumpled the letter up and threw it in the nearest garbage bin. Whoever had left it was twisted in the head.

Hours later, after closing up, Cas drove himself home. He didn't notice the dark figure standing at the corner of his store.

* * *

Two days later, he found another note tucked under a book on his desk.

 _My dear Castiel,_ it read in neat letters. _Yet again I could not bring myself to touch you. I will soon. As soon as I have you all to myself. Yesterday, when you placed your hand on the arm of the man in the blue suit...I almost killed him. I was so enraged that I could not write to you. But I cannot blame you. You do not understand that we are destined to be together. But you will._

 _Sleep tight, Castiel._

Feeling violated, Castiel crumpled it up and almost threw it away, but stopped himself. Maybe he could show it to the cops, if things got out of hand. But it wouldn't get that far, right? It was just... Too creepy to be a prank. Certainly no one he knew would do this. And not many people knew his family. So the only logical conclusion was that this was real. Someone was watching him.

Why was this happening? He hadn't done anything to anyone in his life. How had he caught the eye of a stalker?

 **AN:** Yeah, short chapter. Sorry. They will get longer, promise.

Thank you for reading this. I wrote it ages ago, and decided to put it up just 'cause.

Hope your day (or night, most likely) is as fabulous as you are. :3


	2. Chapter 2

Three Days Later

Castiel lifted the box-

And fell back with an unmanly shriek when a small, furry thing fell out from behind it. Standing on a chair, he stared intently at it, waiting for it to move. When several moments had passed, he stepped down and retrieved a ruler from his desk. It was still there when he got back. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a rat. It lay motionless and stiff on the cold concrete floor.

Arm extended as far as possible, Castiel poked the rodent with his ruler. It didn't react.

Dead, thank goodness.

Sighing in relief, Cas threw away his ruler and returned to the tiny corpse with a broom and dustpan.

* * *

"Thank you and have a nice day!" Castiel called after his last customer of the day. After the door swung back into place, he collapsed onto his chair.

Five. Freakin' five dead rats in his back room, each more disgusting then the last. Shuddering, Castiel began to wonder why he had agreed to take over the shop for his father. Never mind that no one else would have done it, or that he (usually) enjoyed it. Somebody was out to get him, and they knew they could find him here. The six notes in his desk drawer attested to that fact.

They didn't know where he lived, did they?

Telling himself he was being paranoid, Castiel forced himself to his feet. Of course they didn't. Otherwise they would stalk him there too.

But this was getting out of hand. He needed someone to help him, to ensure that he wasn't crazy.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he picked up the phone and called his brother.

"Hello, this is the all-powerful Gabriel!"

"Hi, Gabriel."

"Cassie! Hi! What's up?"

"Um. Well, it's kind of stupid. I don't-"

"Hey now, _nothing_ is stupid when it comes to _you_."

Castiel rolled his eyes at Gabe's cheesy southern-belle accent. "Well... I've been getting weird letters. Creepy weird. And...dead rats. Everywhere. I..." He sighed. He sounded so pathetic.

"Just a thought, but...you wouldn't happen to be using rat traps, now would you? 'Cause you know, they are know to produce- get this- dead rats."

Cas sighed. "I know that, Gabriel. I haven't been using rat traps. They're just dead. On the ground."

Gabriel's voice took on a more serious tone. Cas was grateful that his brother could drop the sass and sarcasm when it counted. "What do you want me to do about it?" A pause. Then, excitedly, "I can always dress up as the Pied Piper and music them out. You know how great a temptress I am. No, wait. I'm a dude. What do you call a male temptress?"

"Annoying," Cas snapped, hanging up the phone.

Usually when it counted.


	3. Chapter 3

The Next Day

Castiel glanced up when he heard the doorbell jingle. A grin crossed his face when Gabriel skipped down an aisle towards Cas's desk.

"Hey, Cassie. What's up?" he said in greeting.

When his brother hopped onto the counter, Cas shot him a mildly disapproving glare. Gabe simply ignored him, snagging a lollipop from the candy bowl.

"Thank you for coming, Gabriel."

"No prob," his brother grinned. "I'm always here to protect my baby brother."

Castiel chuckled to himself, arranging some papers. Gabriel was a tiny thing, and normally wouldn't harm a fly. But when he got mad….

There was a reason Cas hadn't been bullied in school. And having him here now was more comforting than he cared to admit.

"Hey, do you have any of the notes?"

Castiel nodded nervously. "But I threw out the first one."

After handing them over, Castiel busied himself with preparing the store. He straightened everything, giving into his self-diagnosed OCD.

"This is seriously messed up," Gabe shouted from the back. Castiel grunted in response, rearranging a couple books on a tall shelf.

The bell rang once again. An actual customer this time, not another brother. With business in full swing and Gabriel standing guard, Castiel could relax and interact with people properly.

"Hey, where's the bathroom?"

Looking up at the gruff voice, Castiel found the hottest man he'd seen in a long while. He was tall, lean, and stood with a cocky, self-confident tilt to his hips. Short, light brown hair, spiked in the front; full, pouty lips, and those eyes…. They were the most beautiful green. Dark, tight jeans hugged his legs. On top, he wore a stained Metallica T-shirt, a blue plaid shirt, and a dark brown leather jacket. He looked the definition of "badass". Cas wouldn't have minded finding out what was under all those pesky layers. He stared at the man's face, trying to figure out what kind of man he was.

He probably stared too long. The next thing he heard was:

"Sorry," the stranger grinned sheepishly, "didn't mean to spook you."

Blushing, Castiel gave himself a mental shake. "Y-you didn't scare me. I'm sorry. What did you ask?"

He chuckled. "Bathroom?"

"Oh. Um, go down this aisle here, then turn right. There will be a checkout desk. They're right across from it."

"Thanks. Hey, Sammy!" he called behind him. "Found them."

A giant of a man walked up to them. His dark brown hair brushed against the shoulders of his red plaid shirt. Underneath, he wore a simple black shirt.

 _Oh_. So _that_ was why they needed a bathroom so badly. Flushed, Castiel turned away. He'd rather his bathrooms remain virgin -pardon the pun- but he was too much a coward to ask them to take it elsewhere. So he awkwardly fluffed pillows and shuffled CDs, wondering how much it would take for Gabriel to be persuaded to do the cleaning.

* * *

Once in the men's restroom, the Winchester brothers locked the door.

"How's it looking?" Dean asked.

"Results are off the charts," Sam responded, holding up their newest toy. It looked like their EMF sensor, but was rigged to pick up on anything supernatural. It went ding when there was stuff. It was vague, but had led them to the right place. "And I saw a weird mark on the checkout desk."

"While you were flirting with the checkout guy?"

Sam smacked his arm. "It's not flirting, it's getting information."

"Yeah, yeah. So what mark?"

"I don't know. I've never seen it before." He pulled a notepad from his pocket and quickly sketched it. To Dean, it looked like a very long scythe stuck through a lop-sided circle.

"Huh. Looks like research tonight."

"For me, you mean."

"Hey, I help!"

"Sure you do."

Their bickering was interrupted when the doorknob started to jiggle.

"Hey, whatever you two are doing in there, hurry it up. Other people have needs, you know!"

The boys sprang into action silently. Sam unlocked the window high on the wall, cracking it open a quarter inch. Dean shoved their equipment back into his duffle bag and darted into one of the two stalls. After he slid the latch home, Sam unlocked the door.

"Sorry," Dean heard him apologize, "locking doors is a habit of mine."

"Uh-huh. You doing something illegal in here?"

"What? N- _no_ , we're not. My brother's just a slow changer."

"Shut up, Sammy," Dean called good-naturedly, slipping a Guns'n'Roses shirt on.

"Brothers?" the guy repeated. "Huh. Cassie and I were sure you were _special_ friends."

"Nah, Sam's not my type," Dean said as he exited the stall, bag in hand. "Too freakishly tall. And he sings like a girl."

"I do not!"

"Sure you do. All that Disney's getting to you."

They argued all the way out of the cozy store. Dean paused only once- to glance at the store owner with the brilliant blue eyes.

* * *

Later that night, the brothers crept down the alley behind the shop. It was eleven, four hours after closing. The bathroom window was as they had left it. After dragging a crate over, one by one they lifted themselves through the opening. Dean went first, then waited impatiently for Sam to force his lengthy body through. He practically tumbled to the floor.

The bathroom was dark, so Dean pulled out his flashlight. The steady beam led them out of the restroom and into the main store.

"Tell me again-why couldn't you just pick the lock?" Sam groaned, rotating his aching shoulder.

"Because their system is hella complicated, okay? And they've got cameras."

"Why all the security?"

"Probably to keep people like us out."

Sam opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it when the door by the desk opened. Light spilled into the store.

"Michael? Luci? Is that you? You didn't call, so I wasn't expecting-"

Castiel's words cut off when he caught sight of the Winchesters. Eyes widening, he froze for half a second, then turned tail and sprinted to the desk. His fingers were a hair's breadth from the panic button when strong arms wrapped around his torso and yanked him back.

"What was he goin' for?" Dean grunted, holding the squirming man.

Sam ducked behind the desk. "Panic button," he commented, surprised. They had been expecting a weapon of some sort.

"Huh. Maybe he isn't our bad guy."


End file.
